Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Civil Libertarian, Feminist, Joins Supreme Court

Appointed by President Bill Clinton, Ruth Bader Ginsburg became the second woman to serve on the Court. She had previously been a Justice on the Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, to which she appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1980. As director of the ACLU Women’s Rights Project in the 1970s, she played a major role in several landmark women’s rights cases before the Court, including Reed v. Reed, decided on November 22, 1971, and Frontiero v.Richardson, decided on May 14, 1973.

Following the retirement of Sandra Day O’Connor and the appointment of Samuel Alito, the Supreme Court shifted further in a conservative direction. In response, Ginsburg became more outspoken in her dissents and in public comments, particularly on women’s issues. In one interview in June 2014, for example, she said the Court had a “blind spot” on women’s issues.

Don’t miss: Linda Hirshman, Sisters in Law: How Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg Went to the Supreme Court and Changed the World (2015)